


Like An Arrow to the Heart

by finkpishnets



Category: Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-31
Updated: 2010-07-31
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/finkpishnets/pseuds/finkpishnets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>He has a pretty sweet gig going on; his grades are good, people are actually starting to pay for his help finding their ‘soulmate’, and he always has a date for parties. And then she shows up.</i> High School AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like An Arrow to the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> For the Awesome Ladies Ficathon prompt ‘Modern AU’, and the hs_bingo prompt ‘first date’. Also, now I kind of want to write Fortuna/Cupid. Don’t ask.

Cupid is good looking and well liked and cool enough that things that would make anyone else look lame just seem to heighten his popularity. Like the matchmaking thing. He hadn’t meant to start doing it, but his mom ran one of those Internet dating sites and maybe he was just destined to follow in her footsteps.

Megan in English had been moaning about not being asked to the Valentine’s dance, and then Chris is Biology had said he really didn’t know who to ask; Cupid had merely suggested they go together, and the next thing they’re walking around school hand in hand and buying him lunch to say thanks.

Soon it’s a regular thing.

He finds out pretty quickly that he has a natural talent for knowing just who fits with who, it’s like he can just _tell_ , and it’s a strange gift to have, sure, but not everyone can be athletes or mathematicians or drama kids, and besides, he gets way more cookies than those guys. He likes to think he’s making a _difference_. The free lunches don’t hurt either.

No, he has a pretty sweet gig going on; his grades are good, people are actually starting to _pay_ for his help finding their ‘soulmate’, and he always has a date for parties.

And then _she_ shows up.

He’s running late for Gym when he turns a corner and literally runs right into her, and she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. He stands there dumbstruck for a moment before he realizes she’s still on the ground and he’s just gawking like an idiot.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, offering her his hand and helping her to her feet. “ _Jupiter_ , I am _such_ a klutz.”

“It’s fine,” she says, and _Tertius_ , even her _voice_ is perfect, soft and low.

“I don’t know you,” he says, and then shakes his head. “I mean, who are you? I mean, um…”

“I’m new,” she says, biting her bottom lip in amusement, and Cupid may be in love, just a little bit. “I’m Psyche.”

“Cupid,” he tells her, offering a hand and wondering just when any semblance of cool he possessed flew out the window. She shakes it anyway.

“Well, Cupid, do you think you could tell me where Home Ec is? I am seriously lost.”

“Yes, sure, absolutely,” he says, and _seriously_ , he swears he used to be less of a babbling mess. “Up the stairs, first corridor to the left.”

“Thanks,” she says, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Yes,” he says. “Right, you too.”

She disappears out of sight and he lets his head drop back against the wall with a painful thud.

“I am totally lame,” he says to himself.

The freshman kid walking out of the bathroom right then probably agrees.

 

+

 

“How was school?” his mom asks when he walks into the kitchen, dumping his stuff on the table.

“I fell in love,” he sighs, and okay, so he’s totally being overdramatic, but he’s a _teenager_ so it’s allowed.

“Brilliant,” Venus says, not looking up from the folders in front of her, all of them filled with charts and client details. “Just make sure you’re compatible.”

“Of course,” he says, and heads upstairs.

“Oh,” Venus calls, “your father called. He’s got some extended leave coming up, wants to take you on an obstacle course or shooting or something. I don’t know. You know what Mars is like. Make sure you call him back; I really do _not_ want to speak to him any more than necessary. He messes up my chi.”

“Will do,” Cupid says, and then shuts himself in his room.

Seriously, his family? _So_ screwed up.

 

+

 

The next day at school everyone’s talking about Psyche.

Everywhere Cupid goes people are whispering about the new girl, guys with lust, girls with jealousy, and he has to stop himself interrupting several conversations to tell the speaker just where they can shove their opinions.

He’s sitting in History contemplating all the horrible ways he could dispose of Roger Peterson when Psyche sits down next to him.

“Cupid, hi,” she says, and she doesn’t seem to notice how the room hushes as everyone turns to stare at them.

“Hey Psyche,” he says, ducking his head in embarrassment when he realizes he’s blushing.

“Is it okay if I sit here?” she asks. “Only I don’t actually know anyone else.”

“It’s fine,” he says quickly, and the smile she gives him practically makes him melt.

He spends the rest of the class gripping his pen tightly and staring straight ahead.

Tertius this was getting ridiculous.

 

+

 

“She’s perfect,” he tells his mom over dinner, “and I’m a complete freak around her.”

“Is she pretty?” Venus asks, picking at her vegan salad like she’s not just going to eat an entire tub of Ben and Jerry’s later.

“She gorgeous. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

Venus narrows her eyes and pouts, and Cupid has to stop himself rolling his eyes. His mother’s obsession with her glory days as a much-adored supermodel can get a little scary at times; he wishes he could get her one of those mirrors, the sort from _Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs_. Of course, if it ever said anyone else’s name, a woodsmen and a poison apple would be the least of their worries.

“Well,” she says eventually. “Then you should just ask her out. The one thing, the _only_ thing, your father and I have in common is our stunning good looks and incredible intelligence. You’re very blessed. She’d be crazy not to want you.”

Cupid blinks.

“How’d _your_ date go last night?” he asks.

Venus scoffs. “He ordered _steak_ and talked about baseball for forty minutes. Men are such morons.”

 

+

 

Eleven guys have asked Psyche out by the time Cupid gets to school Friday.

She’s said no to all of them.

Cupid’s feeling pretty damn good about it until he opens his locker and finds about fifty notes all asking for expertise in setting them up with their perfect date. And every one of them mentions said date by name.

He gets a detention and a warning from the principle when he tries to burn them all in the trashcan outside the cafeteria.

 

+

 

“She doesn’t date,” Fortuna says instead of a greeting, dropping into the seat next to him and ignoring their home room teacher as he babbles on about the next weekend’s PTA fundraiser.

“Um,” Cupid says, and Fortuna rolls her eyes.

“I’m trying to help you out here so listen up,” she says, crossing her legs and sending Gaius Augustus a look of pure ice when he stares at them for too long. “The very lovely Psyche does not date. Not because she doesn’t _want_ to, but because she has two horrid sisters who make her feel like every decision she ever makes is wrong. Very _Cinderella_ without all the creepy singing mice. Besides, she’s _beautiful_ , and if there’s one thing boys have absolutely no idea how to handle, it’s a beautiful woman. So, she doesn’t date, but that doesn’t mean she _won’t_. Not if the right person asks her.”

She leans closer, and Cupid _likes_ Fortuna, he really does, but she’s still kind of really freaking terrifying sometimes.

“That’s all I can tell you,” she says. “Fate is now in your hands.”

“That sound ominous,” Cupid says, frowning.

“Does it? Good. I’m trying it out. I feel like I need a catchphrase.”

She leans back in her chair, pulls a coin from her purse and begins flipping it in the air.

Cupid’s a little nervous to notice it always lands on heads.

 

+

 

He finds her outside the smoothie place alone and reading _In the Grip of the Minotaur_ , and sends Fortuna a silent ‘thank you’ for this one last bit of advice.

“Hi,” he says, shoving his hands in his pockets when his finger won’t stop twitching.

She looks up, blinks, and then smiles, bright and earnest.

“Hey! Want to sit down?”

“Yeah,” he says, “thanks. I’m not interrupting you from your book am I?”

“No,” she says, marking the page with a receipt and putting it in her bag. “Not at all. I always find that the Greeks should be read in small doses anyway.”

“Absolutely. Of course I may just be holding a grudge after that one entire summer my mom made everyone call her Aphrodite.”

Psyche laughs, her head tipping back, and it’s open and honest and Cupid’s fixated.

“Go out with me,” he says before he knows what he’s doing, and Psyche freezes, her eyes widening, and he honestly thinks she’s going to say no when she leans forwards and bites her lip.

“Okay,” she says eventually, and it takes him a moment to realize that it’s not a rejection.

“Really?”

She smiles then, and it’s small and unsure and not like her other smiles at all, but Cupid likes it all the same.

“Yes, really,” she says.

 

+

 

“You’re awfully cheery,” Venus says from where she’s eyeing up five different pairs of shoes and testing them up against what seems to be a new Prada dress.

“ _I_ have a date,” Cupid says, smiling.

Venus gives him a mildly annoyed look.

“You realize you practically just sang that, right?”

“Not looking forward to your date tonight?” Cupid says in response and watches his mom’s eyes narrow further.

“It is _not_ a date,” she says, “I am merely meeting your father for drinks to discuss his alimony payments. And how they need to be increased.”

“Mom, I turn eighteen in three months,” Cupid points out.

“And _that_ is why it needs to be upped _now_ ,” she says with a smirk.

It’s kind of disturbing how his parents attempt to screw each other over at every opportunity, but it would be much easier to take if he didn’t know these _meetings_ always ended up with them checking into a hotel suite, too.

He is going to need so much therapy one day.

“Wear the grey shirt,” Venus says, turning back to her task. “It makes your eyes sparkle.”

“Tell Dad I said hi.”

 

+

 

He’s booked a table at a restaurant in town, nice but not intimidating and with a wide enough menu that she should be able to find anything to eat. He’s even phoned to confirm. Twice.

As luck would have it, he gets stuck in traffic and doesn’t have her number to let her know he’s running late. His phone _does_ buzz but it’s just a text from Fortuna telling him it’s always wise to check the traffic reports, and if _that_ doesn’t highlight exactly _why_ he finds her creepy then nothing does.

He gets to the restaurant fifteen minutes late, abandoning his car in the first empty space he sees and hoping like hell Psyche hasn’t left.

She hasn’t.

She’s wearing a pale blue dress and her hair is curling around her shoulders in the breeze and every man around is watching her in awe.

“Hi,” Cupid says, running over, “I am _so_ sorry. I got stuck in traffic.”

She exhales deeply and then smiles, and he can see the way her shoulders relax, realizes he’s not the only one that’s nervous and doesn’t know what to do with that.

“My sisters,” she says, and she sounds relieved and happy. “They said you’d probably stand me up.”

“Why would I do that?” he says and she shrugs.

Fortuna hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said Psyche’s sisters made her insecure, and Cupid hates them then, hates that their jealousy could have such an effect on someone so lovely. He reaches out and takes her hand, links his fingers through hers and opens the restaurant door.

“Shall we?”

“Yes,” she says. “Also, do you know why I received a text from Fortuna about the weather?”

“No idea,” he says, making a mental note to grab his umbrella from the trunk of his car as soon as they leave.

 

+

 

“So,” Fortuna says from where she’s leaning up against his locker, “how’d it go?”

“It was perfect,” Cupid says, and he knows he’s grinning like an idiot but he doesn’t really care.

“All that matchmaking and now you’ve finally found someone of your very own,” she says with a dramatic sigh, and Cupid laughs.

“Jealous?”

“Please,” she scoffs, “I do alright for myself.”

“Thanks for the tip about the rain by the way,” he says as he takes his books from his locker and puts them in his bag.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she says, and then nods down the hallway. “Here comes your lady love. Also, you owe me.”

“Later.”

“Was that Fortuna?” Psyche says as she joins him, and Cupid kind of love how she really doesn’t notice the way everyone looks at her.

“Yeah, she says hi.”

Psyche smiles and then grabs the remaining books from his hands.

“Walk you to class?” she says, and Cupid laughs, takes her hand and pulls her closer, kissing her gently.

“Absolutely.”


End file.
